8 Similar Anime Like Captain Tsubasa (2018)

Captain Tsubasa (2018)

Here are my favorite picks for anime like Captain Tsubasa (2018). Keep in mind the list is in no particular order. Enjoy!

Ace of Diamond

With a stray pitch that completely missed the batter, Eijun Sawamura loses his final middle school baseball game. Frustrated by this defeat, Eijun and his teammates vow to reach the national tournament once they are in high school. But everything changes when a scout unexpectedly invites him to Tokyo’s prestigious Seidou High School after seeing the potential in his unusual pitching style. Encouraged by his teammates, Eijun accepts the offer, ready to improve his skills and play at a much more competitive level of baseball.

However, now surrounded by a large number of skilled players, Eijun struggles to find his place on the team. He declares that he will one day become the team’s ace, but that’s only if fellow first year Satoru Furuya doesn’t take the title first, with his breakneck fastballs that earn him a coveted spot on the starting roster. With the addition of these talented new players to an already powerful lineup, the Seidou baseball team aims to become the best in Japan, facing off against a number of formidable foes that stand in their way.

All Out!!

In rugby, there is no ace striker, there is no number four batter, so who is the star of the team?

The story begins at school entrance ceremony of Kanagawa High School where Kenji Gion, a small but gutsy go-getter joins the rugby club. He joins with his classmate, Iwashimizu, who has a complicated past and sub-captain Hachiouji, who always takes good care of his Club members. Lastly, there is Captain Sekizan, who has overwhelming powers but keeps his cards close to his chest. With such differences in both personality and physical performance, the team must learn to work and grow together so they can become the best.

Kuroko’s Basketball

Teikou Junior High School’s basketball team is crowned champion three years in a row thanks to five outstanding players who, with their breathtaking and unique skills, leave opponents in despair and fans in admiration. However, after graduating, these teammates, known as “The Generation of Miracles,” go their separate ways and now consider each other as rivals.

At Seirin High School, two newly recruited freshmen prove that they are not ordinary basketball players: Taiga Kagami, a promising player returning from the US, and Tetsuya Kuroko, a seemingly ordinary student whose lack of presence allows him to move around unnoticed. Although Kuroko is neither athletic nor able to score any points, he was a member of Teikou’s basketball team, where he played as the “Phantom Sixth Man,” who easily passed the ball and assisted his teammates.

Free!

Haruka Nanase has a love for water and a passion for swimming. In elementary school, he competed in and won a relay race with his three friends Rin Matsuoka, Nagisa Hazuki, and Makoto Tachibana. After claiming victory at the tournament, the four friends went their separate ways. Years later, they reunite as high school students; however, Rin couldn’t care less about returning to the way things used to be. Not only does he attend a different school, but the sole thing important to him is proving that he is a better swimmer than Haruka.

After the bitter reunion, Haruka, Nagisa, and Makoto decide to form the Iwatobi High School Swim Club, but they will need a fourth member if they hope to take part in the upcoming tournament. Enter Rei Ryuugazaki, a former member of the track team whom Nagisa recruits. As the time to compete draws near, the four develop a close bond while training intensely to come out on top and settle things between Haruka and Rin once and for all.

Yowamushi Pedal

Sakamichi Onoda is a cheerful otaku looking to join his new school’s anime club, eager to finally make some friends. Unfortunately, the club has been disbanded and he takes it upon himself to revive it by finding students who are willing to join. Without much luck, Onoda decides to make a round trip to Akihabara on his old, bulky city bicycle, a weekly 90-kilometer ride he has been completing since fourth grade.

This is when he meets fellow first year student, Shunsuke Imaizumi, a determined cyclist who is using the school’s steep incline for practice. Surprised by Onoda’s ability to climb the hill with his specific type of bicycle, Imaizumi challenges him to a race, with the proposition of joining the anime club should Onoda win. And thus begins the young boy’s first foray into the world of high school bicycle racing!

Giant Killing

East Tokyo United (ETU) has been struggling in Japan’s top soccer league for the past few years. It has taken everything they have just to avoid relegation. To make matters even worse, the team has lost five matches in a row, leading to abysmal team morale. Even the fans are beginning to abandon them, and rumors hint that the home ground municipality is going to withdraw their support. With countless coaches fired and poor financial choices in hiring players, it is a downward spiral for ETU.

The board of directors, under pressure from general manager Kousei Gotou, takes a gamble and hires a new coach—the slightly eccentric Takeshi Tatsumi. Though considered a great soccer player when he was younger, Tatsumi abandoned ETU years ago. However, since then, he has proven himself successful as the manager of one of England’s lower division amateur teams.

Major 2nd

Daigo is born as the son of Gorou, a father who is too great. What path will Daigo, who is burdened with great expectations, take in baseball?

Hungry Heart: Wild Striker

Kyosuke Kano has lived under the shadow of his successful brother Seisuke all his life who is a professional soccer player. Tired of being compared and downgraded at, he abandoned playing soccer until a boy from his new highschool discovered him and asked him to join their team. Kyosuke joins it and befriends two other first year players named Rodrigo and Sakai with the dream of becoming professional soccer players themselves.